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Should you be ready to test when you do? By that I mean when your sensei says you are going to test, should you feel ready to test. When I tested last I didn't feel ready…..but I passed (so I must have known enough).

My sensei has told me that I will be testing, I don't even feel remotely ready. Not only in technique but in attitude and the philosophical part of aikido.

when to test is the teachers call. If the teacher thinks you are ready, then test. If the teacher doesn't think you are ready, then he/she won't ask you to test (unless they are trying to teach you something that way).

If it makes you feel any better I don't feel ready either. In fact every single person who is up for dan testing I've talked to at the dojo doesn't feel ready. We just have to trust sensei's judgement. He wouldn't put us up for it if he didn't think we could do it.

Relax, train in earnest, and do your best. That's all you can do.

Bronson

To answer your original question; IMO, no you shouldn't feel completely ready to test. A little nervousness is good for us and I think that if you feel 100% prepared then you've waited too long.

"A pacifist is not really a pacifist if he is unable to make a choice between violence and non-violence. A true pacifist is able to kill or maim in the blink of an eye, but at the moment of impending destruction of the enemy he chooses non-violence."